Speaking of Molly Ringwald (were we speaking of Molly Ringwald?), I would like to go on record stating that I've never had a crush on the red-haired star of The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. Not even in the darkest days of my zit-spangled, hormone-poisoned adolescence did I even have a secret, in-the-closet fixation on her.

Rot at the Tricklock Performance Space

By Steven Robert Allen

Mary Shelley's life could have been lifted straight from the pages of a Gothic novel. Her father, the philosopher William Godwin, supposedly began teaching her to spell by having her trace the inscription on her dead mother's tombstone. At 16, she ran away to live with the poet Percy Shelley, who unfortunately was already married to someone else. Later, while staying with Shelley and Lord Byron in Switzerland, she conceived of Frankenstein, arguably the most famous horror novel in the history of literature. She was only 19 at the time.

Theatre X

By Steven Robert Allen

Although this show began life back in 1993 as The Aesthetically Challenged Farmyard Foul in Newberry, England, producers soon realized they needed a catchier title. With this in mind, they changed the name of this musical based on Hans Christian Anderson's timeless fairytale "The Ugly Duckling" to Honk! A new version of the popular show is being staged starting this weekend at UNM's Theatre X. Honk! is suitable for everyone from aged swans to the youngest duckling, so bring the whole family. Opens Friday, Feb. 25. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m. $10 general, $6 students. Runs through March 5. 925-5858.

SolArts

By Steven Robert Allen

Set in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood during the height of Mayor Giuliani's gentrification of lower Manhattan, In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings follows the lives of several destitute characters who must come to terms with a rapidly changing world. Directed by Justin Lenderking, this gritty play by Stephen Adly Guirgis opens this weekend at SolArts. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 6 p.m. $10 general, $8 students/seniors. Runs through March 13. 244-0049.

The High Times Reader

Review by Tim McGivern

The High Times Reader

When former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson took it upon himself to lambaste our nation's drug laws a few years back, I thought to myself: Here's a guy who appreciates the importance of perspective. Johnson is, of course, fit enough to compete in the Iron Man Triathlon and climb Mt. Everest, and although he abstains from caffeine and alcohol, these days he enjoys—like E. Shirley Baca, lawyers, doctors, judges, construction workers, engineers and players of instruments, too—the occasional toke of weed.

Handel's Messiah

The Nutcracker Ballet

By Megan Reneau

Festival Ballet Albuquerque, with choreography by Patricia Dickinson Wells and full live orchestra under the baton of Maestro Guillermo Figueroa, present the classic ballet set in the late 1800s in territorial New Mexico.